Romania and Bulgaria warned over 'slow' anti-corruption efforts[fr][de] 

The reports, issued on 4 February 2008, express the Commission's concern over the absence of convincing results in the fight against high-level corruption in both countries, as well as organised crime in Bulgaria. 

The report on Bulgaria concludes that whereas some successful efforts have been put in place in the areas of judicial reform and fighting corruption at the country's borders, efforts to fight corruption within local government and organised crime should be strengthened to show positive results. 

"What we see, especially in the area of organised crime, is that, while the figures are improving, we have no way to assess how this fits in with the situation on the ground, and also with other data that is been provided in previous years," said Commission spokesperson Mark Gray. 

Furthermore, the report points out that Bulgaria's Action Plan for local corruption, high-level corruption and organised crime lacks meaningful performance indicators and the measures proposed (such as awareness-raising campaigns, etc.) do not reflect the level of commitment necessary to tackle the issues concerned. 

As for Romania , the report points to delays in implementing a coherent recruitment strategy for the judiciary and fighting local corruption.

The Commission's main concern regarding Romania is that despite the structures in place, such as the national anti-corruption directorate, the authorities "have not been able to demonstrate convincing final results" in the fight against high-level corruption. "We have ten important cases that have been delayed for over six months," said Gray, expressing the EU executive's concern about the pace of reforms in the country. 

Moreover, Romania's Action Plan for local corruption, high-level corruption and organised crime "lacks coherence and suffers from gaps", does not provide sufficient detail for local corruption and does not feature sufficiently targeted activities and indicators to deliver the intended result. 

"If I can use a sporting analogy, we expect a much better half. None of us want to see extra time or penalties. That is why we expect the two governments to improve in the second half," Gray added, underlining that sanctions may be imposed in case of further lack of progress. 

The final reports will be published in mid-2008 when, depending on the progress made, sanctions could be imposed upon the two countries.